These questions about M&M's first edition were posed to Steve Kenson--and then he answered them! Steve's now providing official answers to second edition questions, but we've archived this forum for you to search.

Question 1: I believe I remember reading somewhere that you can choose to have your area attack affect a smaller area than its full effect would allow. Is this correct?

Question 2: If I choose to make the radius smaller, does the damage bonus also decrease to match the power level it would have taken to create that radius of an explosion?

Example: My Energy Blast +10 with the Area extra could create a 50 ft. radius explosion, but I could choose for the radius to only be 20 ft. If I did so, would the damage bonus of the attack reduce to +4, the power level that would normally create a 20 ft. radius explosion?

Basically, can I voluntarily reduce the radius of an area effect attack without having to reduce the power level of the attack?